Memorial Day - Black Raspberries at their Peak

I've been picking a handful... a cupful... a bowlful of berries every morning or so over the past couple of weeks. This morning I picked two quarts!

We've been snacking on raspberries out-of-hand and embellishing our morning cereal. Over the weekend I cooked down a batch with a dose of honey to make a berry compote that I used to enhance Susanna's birthday cake. My next project will be our favorite raspberry cobbler recipe... 

Raspberry Roll

Pastry

2 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg, beaten

~1/4 cup milk

Sift together dry ingredients; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Add egg and enough milk to make a soft dough. Stir gently with fork until mixture holds together. Press into a smooth ball. Divide dough in half; cover and set aside.

Filling

1 cup sugar (or 1/4 cup sugar per cup of berries used)

2 tablespoons flour

4 cups fresh berries (can use as few as 3 cups)

1/2 cup butter, divided

3/4 - 1 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13"x 9" x2" baking dish. Carefully fold sugar and 2 tablespoons flour into berries. Roll out half the dough into a 14" x 10" rectangle. Cover with half the berries, spreading them within 2" of the edge. Dot with half the butter. Roll up jelly-roll fashion, folding ends under. Place in prepared dish. Repeat. Cut slits in top of each roll. Pour water into dish around rolls. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake ~ 60 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.